Hi, I'm going to China around the 20th of June, hope to travel by boat from Incheon to Tianjin. Can anyone offer advice about times, prices and so on. I'm finding it hard to find accurate info. on the web.
Thanks for your help.
Brian.

Phone to buy tickets to Tianjin - once every 4 days and over 20 hours if my info is correct: 02-517-8671

Tickets to Weihai or Qingdao are from the same company which I recommend. Weihai train station ONLY goes to Qingdao, so it makes more sense to go to Qingdao direct on the boat. leave 5 pm arrive 9 a.m.
032-886-6171

Boats to Dandong 02-713-5522
Boats to Dalian 02 318-1811

From Gunsan or Busan to Yantai. 051-441-8888/ 0654-467-8588

Don't sue me if any of those numbers is no longer good.

For info to Weihai or Qingdao search "Weidong Ferry" on Google, they have English on the website.

Weidong Ferry. They run the Qingdao and Weihai run. Choice of cattle class (like 50 people on the floor in the room), 2nd class (4 people per room, sometimes it's a futon, but usually it's bunk beds. If the boat isn't full then the room will usually be like 3 not 4 even 2 people, once I had it to myself! Men and women must be in separate rooms according to regulations, but people will trade to let you share a room. Alternately, if 4 people reserve together, if doesn't matter the M/F thing.) Royal Class is 2 people per room.

The service is good, the restaurant on board is 5-6,000 won per meal, they have a little theatre, a little weight room.

Description
Incheon International Ferry Terminal has been operating for approximately 90 years with seven routes from China. Approximately 20,000 tourists and trade merchants travel to Korea from China per year and is an important point in Korea-China trade. Currently, Incheon International Ferry Terminal offers routes from Wenhai, Qingdao, Tianjin, Dalian, Dandong, Shanghai, Yantai, and Shidao.

Terminal
Shipping Company
Trip Duration
Incheon
Shipping Company Telephone Number

Description
Busan International Ferry Terminal is Korea's first passenger boat seaport with routes to China, Japan and Russia. It also accommodates the largest amount of passengers with approximately 53,000 passengers per year. Currently, Busan International Ferry Terminal offer 4 routes from Japan-Shimonoseki, Fukuoka, Tsushima, and Kobe-and two routes from China: Shanghai and Yantai. The ferry terminal is nearby Jungang Subway Station with easy access to downtown Busan.

Since I will likely be spending the month of June in China, I thought it would be helpful to know in advance where the phrase "A slow boat to China" came from. -- John B.

SDSTAFF Dex and SDSTAFF Samclem reply:

The phrase was popularized by the song "On a Slow Boat to China," written by Frank Loesser (1910-1969), copyrighted in May 1948. Loesser is perhaps the most versatile of all Broadway composers, having written the music for such famous shows as Where's Charley (1948), Guys and Dolls (1950), Most Happy Fella (1956), and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961). He composed music for films such as College Swing (1938), Destry Rides Again (1939), Fred Astaire's Let's Dance, and Hans Christian Andersen (1952).

Loesser wrote such standards as "Two Sleepy People," "Heart and Soul," "I Don't Want to Walk Without You," "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year," "(See What) The Boys in the Backroom (Will Have)," "They're Either Too Young or Too Old" and his 1948 Academy Award winner, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," in addition to "On a Slow Boat to China."

The lyrics for "Slow Boat to China" start:

I'd love to get you
On a slow boat to China,
All to myself alone.
Get you to keep you in my arms evermore,
Leave all your lovers
Weeping on the faraway shore.

Loesser wrote and circulated the song in 1945, but did not get a copyright until 1948.

Where did he get the phrase? His daughter, Susan Loesser, author of a biography of her father, A Most Remarkable Fella (1993), writes:

"I'd like to get you on a slow boat to China" was a well-known phrase among poker players, referring to a person who lost steadily and handsomely. My father turned it into a romantic song, placing the title in the mainstream of catch-phrases in 1947.

The idea, of course, was that traveling by boat to China was about as long and slow a trip as one could imagine. Loesser moved the phrase from the poker table to a more romantic setting. The song was very popular in its time (and has been revived and sung from time to time over the years by such notables as Kay Kyser, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Buffett, and Frank Sinatra, among others). The phrase then moved into general parlance to mean anything that takes a lonnnnnnng time.